#reshade tutorial
HOW TO USE OLD VERSIONS OF RESHADE + THE CORRECT SHADERS
I’ve posted this information already but scattered through a couple of different posts. I thought it would be useful to have it in one place.
When you install ReShade and it asks you if you’d like to download shaders from github, those shaders will be the most up-to-date. This can mean compatibility issues when you’re installing older versions of ReShade, sometimes leading to errors, other times to your presets not looking as you expect.
Most people keep backups of their preferred ReShade binary/api (that’s the exe and/or dll that hooks ReShade into your game), but few keep backups of the shaders, letting them be overwritten with each new installation. With each new major ReShade release, a wave of anguished cries soon follows as we all find something isn’t quite right.
TIP: Now is a good time to get into the habit of backing up your shaders and keeping them in folders labelled with the appropriate ReShade version number.
Thankfully there is an online repository of previous ReShade binaries. Unfortunately the appropriate shaders are not distributed with them. However, it is possible to browse github and find the shaders you need.
DOWNLOADING OLD VERSIONS OF RESHADE
- Navigate through this repository and find the version you need, and download.
DOWNLOADING THE CORRECT SHADERS
- Search the releases thread on the ReShade forum for your preferred version.
- Work out the dates this version was the official version (this will take a bit of work, and require patience).
- You can find the download pages for most common shader packs here. Most, if not all, are hosted on github.
- Click on the ‘commits’ for the pack you’re searching for on github until you find a ‘commit’ (a line listing a change) to any shader with the date you found earlier.
- Click on the < > button on the right next to that line. That will take you to the full set of shaders from that moment in time.
- Click ‘Clone or Download’ and click ‘Download ZIP’. Save the folder with a memorable name, preferably alongside the ReShade binary that matches (so you can always find them together).
- For the main Crosire shaders there are two ‘branches’ you need to search. The first, which is selected automatically, is the ‘Slim’ branch - this is the set of standard shaders that come as default with every installation. The second is the ‘Master’ branch - this is the ‘Legacy’ pack of shaders.
- NOTE: NEVER INSTALL ALL THE LEGACY SHADERS if you’re also installing other packs like OtisFX - this is because the Legacy pack contains very old versions of shaders that are no longer updated. Instead, only pick the individual shaders from the Legacy pack that you can’t get updated versions of elsewhere.
INSTALLING OLD VERSIONS AND THE CORRECT SHADERS
- Install your preferred version of ReShade as you would normally. You can go ahead and download the shaders when it asks, so that it sets up the correct paths for you (otherwise you’ll have to set them up yourself manually inside the ReShade menu).
- In your bin folder, find the reshade-shaders folder, and inside it delete the shadersandtexturesfolders.
- Now copy the shadersandtextures folders that you downloaded in the section above, the ones that match your preferred version of ReShade. Paste them into the reshade-shaders folder in your bin folder.
Now you should have a fully compatible installation of your preferred version of ReShade.
NOTE: It is currently not allowed for us to distribute all shaders ourselves because each is authored by different people and subject to different licences. This is why we have to go through these steps to download them from github. I hope this changes in the future, but for now please respect the shader authors’ licences.
DIRECT LINKS FOR RESHADE 3.4.1
This was the last stable release before the change to 4.x. To save a lot of searching, here are links to the correct ReShade version and the appropriate shaders.
If anyone else goes to the hard work of using the method above to find the shaders for other versions of ReShade on github (I know 3.0.8 is still very popular), let me know and I will add the direct links to this post.
EDIT:Thanks to @spook-y-cookie who found the shaders for 3.0.8.
EDIT: ReShade 5.0 came out at the beginning of February 2022. When searching for compatible shaders for 4.9.1 search for the last commits before then. For example, theSlim branch of Crosire’s standard shaders was last updated before then in October 2021, and you can find those shaders here.Likewise, the Master (Legacy) branch was last updated in February 2021, and you can find those shaders here. You will need to search using the method above for any other shader packs you want to use with 4.9.1.
I’ve updated this tutorial slightly to account for the additional shader packs we now regularly use.
As always, the main thing you should take away from this is ALWAYS BACKUP YOUR SHADERS - you may not always be able to find them again in the future.
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